There are many situations in which a network user (e.g., a person accessing the Internet) may desire to communicate (e.g. download or otherwise receive) a relatively large amount of data via the network from another client computer or a server computer.
For example, consider that electronic commerce utilizes the Internet to sell goods and services to customers, and has been increasing in its scope and scale at increasing rates. A seller will typically list an item for sale or auction by inputting information regarding the item for sale into a plurality of information fields using a remote user input device, for example a user computer. The computer is connected to a communications network such as the Internet and when the user has completed inputting the information, data is transmitted to a central server to create the listing.
A potential buyer accesses the central server using a remote user input device, for example a user computer typically via the Internet, and views the listing and perhaps makes an offer to purchase the listing.
In order to do this both the seller and the buyer typically navigate through a series of web pages over the Internet.
However, where the amount of data to be transmitted to the user computer is large, it will be appreciated that the user will wait for some time while the data is transmitted over the network and they receive the data and are able to view it, typically using a web browser. This is particularly exaggerated for dial-up and low broadband users.
Of course, the above is just one example environment in which a user may desire to receive data via a network (e.g. the Internet). Photo hosting sites on the Internet have been increasing in popularity, and require users to download multiple digital photographs from a server to view these digital photographs and to order physical prints of the digital photographs.
Other examples of relatively large digital files that a user may wish to download over a network include audio and video files. For example, a user may wish to download an MPEG video from a web site for archiving and availability to other users. Similarly, certain web sites may act as distribution channels for up-and-coming musical artists, and may accordingly allow for the downloading of MP3 files from a web site (e.g., www.MP3.com)